词根词缀：capit-, capt-, cap-, cep-, ceps-, chapt-, chef, cip-

【来源及含义】Latin: head; leader, chief, or first

【相关描述】It may be surprising to see that a "captain" and a "chef" both belong to the same word family; however, a captain is, of course, the "head of a company of military soldiers", and a "chef is the captain of a group of cooks".

A chef, especially to those who love good food, is not a lowly official; and when it is remembered that the old saying that "an army travels on its stomach", a chef is every bit as important as a captain.

When the French borrowed words from Latin, they frequently used soft sounds. These French words, with their softer sounds, then made their way into the English language. At the same time, English borrowed words directly from Latin. So it is that in English we often have two words which share the same root, but which have different, though related, forms and meanings.

Don't confuse the words in this capit-, capt- unit with those in the cap-, cip-, "catch, seize" unit.

【同源单词】a capite ad calcem, achieve, achievement, achiever, acid rain, alopecia capitis totalis